Haggai 1:12

They considered their ways. They took it to heart. They knew the Lord had spoken, and that He was right, the rebuke well earned. Happy are all those who always act this way, who humble themselves and obey the Lord. The twelfth verse records a refreshing scene. They all united, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the remnant of the people. There was not one dissenting voice. They all obeyed the Lord and the words of the prophet.

Where the whole people of God fail, God continues in His sovereign grace with a remnant. This is true for Israel (e.g. Isa. 10:21; Rom. 9-11) and it is true for the church. A remnant is not just what is left over. It stands for what the whole people should have been, and it is a link with what God gave at the start.

Notice a principle the Scriptures affirm everywhere: the voice of the Lord goes together with the words of the prophet. (v. 12.) When God sends a messenger, He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant. So our blessed Lord said to His disciples, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (John 13:20) Our passage says the same: "and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him." This is a solemn thing for the people of God, because the opposite is true as well. If someone the Lord has truly sent is refused, then the Lord Himself is refused in the person of His servant… This does not mean we should accept everyone who claims to be sent by God. The test is this: does he speak the words of God?

The obedience spoken of here was not mere outward compliance with the warnings they had received. It was the kind that comes from the word of God acting on the conscience. That is why the verse adds, "And the people feared the LORD." This is the sure sign of a real work in the hearts of this feeble remnant. Whether in sinners or saints, if the truth never reaches the conscience, nothing is gained, whatever visible effects the preaching may seem to have… On the other hand, fear of the Lord always rises in a soul whose conscience is exercised before God. That soul then grasps God's holy presence and owns His claims, and at the same time it does not forget its own failure and sin.

They did not begin to build again because the king's decree reached them. They began because they feared the LORD and did not fear the king's command, because they saw Him who is invisible (Hag. 1:12-13). God was no more to be feared under Darius than under Cyrus or Artaxerxes. The source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God. This shows the great grace of God in waking them up through Haggai.

Power comes not before obedience but after it. Some think we must wait for power in order to obey. It is not so; on obedience the Lord gives power… A right state of soul removes all difficulties and makes it possible for the Lord to take us up and use us as vessels of His will. So as soon as the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and feared the LORD, all was ready. The Lord stepped in at once and said, "I am with you." And He stirred up their spirit to do His purpose in building the temple.